


The Dragoon

by treya_barton



Series: FFXV NPC Weekend [3]
Category: Final Fantasy XV
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-05-27
Updated: 2018-05-27
Packaged: 2019-05-14 07:29:24
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 7,356
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14765240
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/treya_barton/pseuds/treya_barton
Summary: Day 3 of NPC Weekend!I choose to write about Aranea and basically highlighted her perspective with each meeting with the chocobros throughout the game and what she would have been doing during the 10 years of dark and post light :)The prompt choices are:Sunday, May 27thVoted Prompt: ChocobosBonus Character Prompt: Aranea Highwind & Crowe Altius





	The Dragoon

Aranea Highwind was in a shitty mood.  She was pacing in a drop ship on its way to Fort Vaullerey, because the Lucian prince (sure he was technically a king now, but he was young and it wasn’t like there was time for a coronation) and his retinue were spotted in the area.  They had already wrecked one base, so it was highly likely they would make their way to Vaullerey soon to throw a wrench in the Empire’s plans. 

What Aranea didn’t understand is why she had to go and try to fix this mess.  She was a mercenary for Astral’s sake!  And as such was contracted to only work during certain hours at specific rates of pay.  The runaway prince had attacked the last fort late at night, so by the time she would possibly be getting any action it would be toward the end of her shift anyway.  And Aranea, much to her superiors in the military’s chagrin, did not work after hours.  She had to hold the Empire to some standard after all, or risk them trying to overwork her.

That’s what was most frustrating.  If she did, in fact, get to engage with the prince and his followers, something that she had to admit was a bit exciting, she would most likely have to cut it short and it would be a waste of her time.  She was curious about these young men that had managed to evade the Empire so far and taken out an entire base without any assistance; while she had the skill to do such a thing on her own, most others didn’t.  So, she would be interested to test their skill and see if they actually had the abilities to match the trouble they had been causing Niflheim thus far.

By the time her drop ship arrived at the base, it was already quite late, and she did notice there seemed to be a disturbance occurring on the ground.  There were guns going off and she could see flashes as the prince warped around or as his retinue used their special attacks drawing upon his power.  She had to admit, their fighting style seemed pretty flashy, if anything.  As she watched from a vantage point overlooking one of the large clearing areas on the base, she tapped her foot impatiently.  While they were decent fighters, she didn’t see anything extraordinary, not compared to some of the Kingsglaive or Crownsguard she had seen on the field in the past.  They were definitely skilled but were still young and not yet veteran fighters.  The tall, burly one who she assumed was the prince’s shield seemed capable, but the small blond was barely holding his own and seemed the roughest in terms of skill. 

‘Shortcake,’ she couldn’t help but think to herself, feeling annoyance growing internally.  She hated seeing young people forced into battle due to uncontrollable circumstances, almost as much as she hated the Magitek that the Empire insisted on using in their army.  Also, just as she thought, it was close to the end of her shift, so she had to make a decision quickly on whether or not she would engage the prince and his pals.  Aranea internally flipped a coin and decided to go ahead and go for it, wanting to test the prince’s skill for herself to see if Lucis even had a chance to fight back.

Thus, she hoisted up her lance and with a shout leapt off the watchtower and aimed straight for the prince, who barely had time to raise his sword up and parry her attack.  Aranea leapt back and swiped at him again with her lance, knocking him to the ground before taunting, “Hey pretty boy, let’s see what you can do,” with a low chuckle. 

The prince’s blue eyes flashed in anger and he bared his teeth at her, while his shield quickly stood in front of him for protection.  Flanked on either side was the young blond and the bespectacled one with calculating green eyes that she assumed was his chamberlain.  Although he and the shield were also pretty young, they felt like they would be more likely to give her some trouble, so she knew to keep an eye on them. 

Aranea decided she would go all out, and that the best way to avoid having to deal with the shield and chamberlain while playing to her strengths would be to utilize her ability to leap in the air and use gravity and momentum to strengthen her strikes.  She had the advantage that way, especially since the shield with his bulky sword wouldn’t be able to touch her.  The chamberlain also used a lance and she had noticed him leaping and flipping around in the battle earlier, but he couldn’t leap nearly high enough to keep up with her.  That left the dark haired prince and his blond friend who immediately began shooting at her.  Aranea was actually impressed by that, for while he was obviously scared he still took his responsibility seriously. 

The prince was the one she really wanted to see in action, however, for she wasn’t sure how far he could warp.  She wasn’t disappointed.  Moments after she leapt in the air, Noctis warped up next to her, slashing out with an attack that she easily parried.  She then began her descent, lance locked with the prince’s sword as they crashed down to the earth.  He managed to keep his balance and push her back with his sword, and she smirked through her helmet before leaping into the air again. 

They then began an aerial dance where she would leap up and he would chase after her, slashing in the air before they would inevitably end up on the ground again.  It was hard for the shield and chamberlain to keep up, since most of the battle was out of their reach, but occasionally when she touched the ground for a moment she would have to dodge either a swing from the broadsword or a slash from the other lance.  One time the chamberlain even used a mark technique which made it easier for the prince to attack her, but she still managed to parry him with ease.  The blond would occasionally line up a shot that she had to look out for, but she honestly wasn’t too worried about him since he was holding back with his prince in the air right next to her; it made it hard for him to ensure he wouldn’t be hitting the dark haired young man.

The prince would occasionally warp over to one of the walkways or on top of equipment to try to set up a warp strike while one of his other companions attempted to distract her, but while it was a good enough strategy she was just too skilled for it to be very effective.  “Too slow,” Aranea smirked as she fended off another one, knocking the prince toward the ground before hurling at him with a strike of her own.  His shield managed to reach them in time and knock it back, and Aranea deftly leapt back before parrying an attack from the chamberlain.  It wasn’t too long afterward that she heard the low rumble of a drop ship overhead, and she realized that Biggs and Wedge had shown up to remind her that her shift had officially ended.  “Aw, is it that time already?” Aranea asked.

“What time?” the prince asked in confusion, stopping to catch his breath.  His retainers also hesitated, appearing confused as to why things abruptly ended.

“Quittin’ time.  Sorry, but this girl doesn’t work after hours,” Aranea drawled lazily.  “I could, but there isn’t a single gil in it for me.  We should play again sometime, pretty boy,” she said sarcastically, before leaping into the air and gracefully landing onto the hatch that had just opened on the drop ship.  She then waved before walking inside as the hatch closed behind her.

As the ship flew away, she couldn’t help but smirk at their bewildered expressions.  ‘They actually let me have a little fun,’ she acknowledged with a shrug.  She still couldn’t understand why the Empire was having so much trouble capturing them or taking them out, but she chalked it up to their reliance on the Magitek instead of sending out real people into battle.

A few weeks later, she found herself in the presence of the prince, his chamberlain, and the blond kid again when she was called by Chancellor Ardyn to carry out a task for him.  She was already annoyed at having to deal with the smarmy, maroon haired man, for she didn’t trust him and the changes she had seen in Niflheim after he began influencing the Emperor.  He was the reason why the Magitek program existed, and she could sense the underlying sneer in his often charming demeanor.  She really didn’t like that he was being underhanded and supposedly helping the enemy; she could definitely relate to the three young men who also seemed to mistrust his actions but found themselves in a situation where they couldn’t refuse his help.  They needed to get mythril and this was the only place they could obtain it.  She couldn’t help but pity them slightly, although she carefully hid that under an annoyed façade.  “I can’t believe I have to babysit,” she grumbled, as she led them into the Steyliff Grove ruins that only opened at night.  It was some sort of magic that was leftover from the days of Solheim.

Aranea had been tasked to “train them” by Ardyn, which neither she nor the young men appreciated.  They looked lost without their shield, and morale was obviously low within the group.  Aranea had a feeling that was the real reason Ardyn wanted her to travel with them – to act as a kind of shield in the missing man’s place.  Why Ardyn seemed so keen on keeping the Prince of Lucis alive, Aranea couldn’t tell.  She just chalked it up as another reason not to trust the man’s intentions.

As they travelled throughout the ruins, Aranea’s opions of the young men began to change.  The further they went and the more demons they fought, the surer they became as they got used to her fighting style and acclimated it with their own.  She realized that they were a tight knit force that seamlessly moved together after weeks of experience on the road – without the big guy to fill that void, it had thrown their battles off. 

She also began to mentally think of them as Noctis, Ignis, and Prompto as she got to know them better.  Noctis was kind of a quiet, moody guy, but she could tell that he looked out for and cherished his Crownsguard.  He treated them more like friends than like his retainers, which definitely caught Aranea’s attention and earned him some of her respect.  He even acted goofy and joked with them, which really hit home to Aranea how young the King of Lucis was and how much responsibility he had on his shoulders.  She still referred to him as pretty boy, much to his annoyance, but she rather enjoyed the rise it got out of him.  It meant he had some backbone, which he would need as he continued his journey.

Ignis was especially impressive with his sharp wit and attention to detail.  Aranea enjoyed bantering with him and would occasionally throw in a flirty comment just to see the normally reserved man blush.  She was surprised he managed to have enough energy to take care of both Noctis and his friend Prompto – it was sometimes like having two children around.  Yet Ignis did it patiently with occasional snark and an Ebony coffee to keep him running.  He seemed to genuinely care about the king and his friend, and she could tell that he was almost like family to Noctis.  She found it endearing how loyal he was to him, for it reminded her how close she was to her own crew.  Aranea had picked up on calling Ignis “Specs” after hearing Noctis say it occasionally – she liked it better than his other nickname “Iggy” which seemed kind of childish to her. 

‘This is how a king should treat his people,’ she thought after seeing Noctis step in to block an attack aimed at Ignis, comparing Noctis mentally to Emperor Iedolas.  The Emperor used to be a decent ruler, but after he began working with Ardyn he had changed and became selfish.  Aranea now knew a lot about the Magitek program and some of the experimentation they were doing with daemons and she did not like it.  She gritted her teeth and took a mightily impressive, angry swing with her lance which knocked three daemons they were fighting off the platformed hallway they were racing along; next to her Prompto yelped as he barely dodged being caught up in her attack.

Prompto.  He was the only one she couldn’t quite understand.  The cheerful blond was obviously not a Crownsguard trained from a young age like Ignis and Gladiolus.  He was nervous and chatty and didn’t seem to know how to sit still.  She couldn’t understand why he had been brought along on the road trip – it was obvious he could barely take care of himself, let alone defend Noctis.  Sure, he had natural ability with a gun and had great aim, but his obviously low self-awareness often got him into trouble.  She found herself having to knock a potion into him more than the other two, and she often felt irritated by him.

It wasn’t until Prompto took a blow meant for Noctis and came crashing to the ground, causing his friend to immediately panic as he stepped in to stop the blond from getting slashed by the reaper’s scythe, that it finally hit Aranea.  Most gunners would stay back in order to stay out of the fray and avoid injury as they lined up their shots.  Prompto, however, wanted to help defend Noctis and kept jumping into the fray to help, even though it led to him getting hit more often.  She began to realize that some of his nervousness came from worry that he wasn’t pulling his own weight and a genuine desire to protect the man who was obviously more than his king – she realized that Prompto was Noctis’s best friend and that he had probably insisted Prompto join him for that reason.

She also noticed that while he appeared cheerful and laid back, chattering away and joking to keep up morale, there would be moments where he would be abnormally silent, standing with his arms crossed and staring into the distance.  There was a hidden depth to the boy, and by the end of their journey she began to feel a bit impressed by him.  He had the biggest hurdle to overcome, and she could tell from the last battle that he had improved his skills significantly in his attempt to catch up to the others.  ‘If only he would learn to stay back and that he would actually be more of a help that way,’ Aranea mused.  She called Prompto “Shortcake,” which called him to stutter and blush the first time she said it until he began to take the nickname in stride. 

When they finally found the mythril and began to head back to the entrance of the ruins, Aranea found herself almost sad that she would have to part with the young men.  Thankfully, since they had already cleared out the daemons, they didn’t have to fight more on their way back.  They stopped for a breather once they realized they weren’t getting attacked anymore, and to her surprise Prompto curiously commented, “There’s one thing I don’t understand,” while looking at her with his head slightly cocked to the side.

“What’s that, shortcake?” she grunted, arms across her chest as she sized him up.

Prompto’s mouth dropped open in shock for a moment, and he quickly glanced over at Ignis and Noctis who both looked bemused.  “Uh…” he said uncertainly, and Aranea sighed.

She gave him a small, encouraging grin, her green eyes showing a rare soft expression that put the other boy at ease.  Before she smirked and said, “Spit it out.”

“Why…are you with Niflheim?” Prompto finally asked.  “You just seem…different from everyone else we’ve encountered.  You’re really cool.”

Aranea pondered his question, for if she was honest with herself, she had been wondering the same lately.  “I don’t think I am going to be working for them for much longer,” she admitted honestly, and the three of them looked at her with wide eyes.  “Between that disgusting Chancellor and the choices the Empire’s been making lately – especially with the Magitek program which I despise – I’ve been considering becoming just a mercenary again.”

“Ah, so you were a mercenary,” Ignis mused.  “That is why you left in the middle of our first meeting.”

Aranea grinned.  “I’m not giving the Empire anymore than what they’ll pay,” she said cheekily, before frowning.  “But I think I’ve reached the point where I don’t even want to give them that anymore.  I think I’d rather focus on fighting daemons at this point, like I used to.”

“Why did you join in the first place?” Noctis asked.

“I was asked to after my exploits fighting daemons,” she explained.  “I was the best and the Empire could use that kind of talent.  Back then, I didn’t know as much as I did now.  That sleazebag Chancellor hadn’t fully corrupted the government yet, so I didn’t realize how bad things would get.”  She looked thoughtful as she spoke, and she soon hardened her resolve.  “I think after this I’ll turn in my resignation.  I know my crew will come with me as well,” she decided, and the other three grinned at her.

“I hope I didn’t influence the decision,” Noctis suddenly said softly, looking unsure for a moment.

“In a way you did, pretty boy,” Aranea teased, causing a blush to spread across his cheeks.  “But, it’s only because I’ve been impressed with you during this trip.”  Noctis blinked in surprise, before looking up to meet her eyes.  “Seeing you with your companions – they’re more than just your bodyguards,” she shrugged.  “You have the makings to become a good king, and I can’t find it in my conscience to fight you boys again.”

They all looked touched by her comment, and she even caught Prompto sniffling slightly at her remark.  “Even shortcake impressed me,” she added with a grin as, he immediately began to stutter nervously.

When they finally left and parted ways, Aranea found herself sad to see them go, but strong in her resolve to forge her own path.  She couldn’t continue to turn a blind eye to the things Niflheim was doing anymore, and she knew that she had to start doing what was right again.

Not long afterward, Aranea had properly defected from the Empire, taking her airship and her crew with her.  They began to travel around, taking on hunts and doing their own thing.  So, one night she’s surprised to see Noctis and his full retinue struggling in a fight against a particularly nasty Iron Giant that was larger than usual.  “Why are those crazy boys back in Hammerhead?” Aranea muttered to herself.  The last time she had seen them they were in the process of gathering materials so they could head out from some secret location to travel to Altissia, although she honestly had no idea how long it took to repair a boat and figured maybe they were killing time while they waited. 

Still, it seemed foolhardy to return to an area actively patrolled by Niflheim instead of staying wherever they had been hiding which seemed like the safer option.  Aranea shrugged, however, for it wasn’t like she always took the safer route herself.  “Hey Wedge, fly her a bit closer to that daemon,” she commanded, and her pilot and friend rolled his eyes before following direction.  He already knew what she wanted to do.

Biggs, meanwhile, began to open the hatch, causing it to lower like a ramp.  Aranea carefully balanced herself on it, waiting for the opportune moment before leaping with an excited yell, silver hair streaming behind her from her braided ponytail.  The four men looked up in surprise, and she could see Prompto pointing up excitedly at her before pulling out his camera to take a picture.  Aranea grinned – she had to make it a good one then.  She aimed her lance at the Iron Giant which somehow hadn’t noticed her, before smashing it in the back of the head and deftly flipping over it, landing another blow at its chest before kicking off and doing a backflip to land between Ignis and Gladiolus.  “Fancy seeing you boys here,” she grinned, before easily parrying a blow from the pissed off Iron Giant’s sword.  “It looked like you could use a hand?”

“Why is she so cool?” Prompto asked, while Noctis smacked him lightly on the back of the head. 

“Eyes up front,” Gladiolus grunted, before rushing forward to take a swing of his own at the daemon.  Aranea noticed that the tall, tattooed man sported a fresh scar on his face and wondered what he had been up to while he had been away.  It seemed reckless for the shield to leave his king, so she hoped he had a damn good reason for it.  He was also using a large katana instead of a broadsword like the first time she had seen him.

He seemed wary of her, since he hadn’t gotten to know her like the other three who seemed to welcome her company, but she actually respected him for it.  If she were in his shoes, she would have felt wary too.  Once she joined the fray, they ended up making short work of the Iron Giant, and she soon found herself joining them for dinner at their camp they had made at a nearby haven.  As Ignis cooked, Noctis and Prompto pulled her into a lively conversation, while Gladiolus pretended to read while really watching her carefully over the pages of his book.  “Thought you were a ‘Niff,” he said gruffly, while Prompto gasped.

“Gladio!” he whined, and Aranea laughed.

“I like a man who doesn’t mince words,” she replied, deciding that Gladiolus passed muster after all.  “I have returned to my roots as a mercenary,” she explained.  “Rest assured that the Empire and I have parted ways, and not even that amicably if I had to be honest,” she added wryly.

Gladiolus grunted, but she could tell he was impressed by her answer.  “Guess you’re alright then,” he replied, while both Ignis and Prompto looked appalled and Noctis laughed. 

Aranea merely shrugged.  “I dunno, big guy, I think I kind of saved your butts tonight,” she grinned.  “I think that makes me more than alright.”

“Come again?” Gladiolus asked, as Ignis quickly interrupted by bringing them both plates of food.

“No fighting at camp,” Ignis threatened grumpily, “Or you will be sleeping outside of the tent tonight.”

Gladiolus grumbled, but he accepted his garula steak without argument.  Aranea bit back another comment that came to mind at seeing them interact, and gratefully accepted her own plate.  She was sure her crew was probably jealous from where they were circling up above in the airship.  It wasn’t often they got to eat anything beyond diner food these days.  “How’s everything been coming along?” Aranea asked after everyone had been quietly eating for a few minutes.

“It should not be too much longer until we are prepared to head to Altissia,” Ignis replied.  Noctis was suddenly quiet and began pushing his food around on his plate.

Prompto was watching him out of the corner of his eye, and Aranea knew that he was probably trying to figure out how to support his friend.  She smiled to herself.  One thing could be said about the boys – they definitely supported and cared for each other.  They made small talk until everyone had finished eating, and it was time for them to head to bed.  Aranea waved before signaling for her airship to pick her up, heading off onto their next adventure.

The next time she would see the young king again, it is under much grimmer circumstances.  Aranea and her crew were helping refugees from Tenebrae and Accordo after Leviathan and Niflheim wrecked Altissia and Niflheim followed up by attacking Tenebrae.  Aranea was pretty upset by their actions, but she had focused her anger as fuel to help people as best as she could.  She was pleasantly surprised to run into the young prince, for she had been worried about him after hearing some rumors about Altissia and the missing oracle.  “I’m glad to see you boys are ok,” Aranea greeted, looking between Noctis, Ignis, and Gladiolus.  Noctis didn’t say anything and looked outright depressed instead of his occasional moodiness, while Ignis and Gladiolus both looked worried.  “Where’s shortcake?” Aranea finally asked, noticing that the sunny blond appeared to be missing.

Noctis choked back a sob before stepping away, heading toward a nearby barren field that used to be full of sylleblossoms, while Ignis quietly replied, “He’s gone missing.”

“What do you mean, missing?” Aranea asked, a dangerous tinge to her voice.

Ignis also looked stricken and like he was barely holding together.  Aranea finally noticed that he was now walking with a cane and looked at his face, realizing that his eyes were scarred and hiding being protective sunglasses.  Her eyes widened, but she carefully avoided any other sign of her shock so as to not upset him.  ‘What happened to these boys?’ Aranea wondered, her anger growing.

“We encountered Ardyn on the train,” Gladiolus said gruffly.  He let out a deep sigh.  “He tricked Noct into thinking Prompto was him.  Noct…” Gladio looked away.  “He pushed him off the train.  It wasn’t until Prompto was falling that he realized what he did.  He’s been beating himself up about it ever since.  We…we couldn’t stop to look for him since we had to get away from Niflheim.”

Aranea let out a deep sigh.  Noctis’s mood made sense.  “I’ll go grab the pretty boy,” she commented, before walking away to gather Noctis, saying she had something she wanted to say to all three of them.  He begrudgingly followed her, still looking sick with worry and obviously beating himself up.

“Alright, I have something to say to all three of you,” Aranea said.  Gladiolus and Noctis both looked up while Ignis listened intently.  “Shortcake – Prompto – wouldn’t want the three of you standing around feeling sorry for yourselves right now.  I’ve seen how much he cares about all three of you – he would be sick to know how much you’re hurting.”  Noctis bit his lip, barely holding back tears, while Gladiolus was shaking slightly and had to clench his fists to calm down.  Ignis was keeping a stoic expression, but his hand trembled slightly where it gripped his cane.  “The best thing you can do for him right now is move forward.  I have no doubt that you’ll see him again.  He’s a tough kid and incredibly loyal to all of you.  I’ll keep an eye out for him and if I see him, I’ll make sure he knows how much you care about him.” 

They appeared a bit more hopeful after her words, and Noctis wiped slightly at his eyes.  “Thank you,” he said softly, appearing far older than the last time they had run into each other.  His eyes were heavy without his friend by his side.  “I would really appreciate you taking care of him and making sure he’s ok,” he added.  “You’re right – he knows where we’re headed and would do everything he could to meet us there.”

“Where is that?” Aranea asked.

“Gralea,” Ignis replied.  “We were actually wondering if it would be possible for you to give us a lift?”

Shortly afterward, Aranea parted ways with her crew after agreeing to loan them to the Lucians so they could make their way to Niflheim and try to recover their Crystal.  She had another task she wanted to perform, after hearing rumors shortly before leaving the Empire’s ranks.  The Research Chief of Niflheim was said to be brewing something particularly nasty in one of his labs, and she had been meaning to pay it a visit.  It sounded particularly deadly, and she wanted to take it out before it could do any harm.

Thus, she bundled up and made her way to the cold, snowy outskirts of Niflheim alone, stealing a snowmobile to use along the way.  Imagine her surprise when she finally busted into the main room of the facility after fighting Magitek and daemons along the way, only to run into Prompto who had just shot Research Chief Verstael Besithia and had tears running down his face.  “Didn’t expect to see you here, shortcake,” Aranea commented, looking at some of the blueprints in the room as Prompto trembled and dropped his gun, falling to the ground in shock.

Besithia’s body had dropped to the ground in front of him, and Aranea wrinkled her nose as she noticed signs of the starscourge on him.  It looked like he had been experimenting on himself as well.  Suddenly, an alarm started going off at the facility, and they overheard a voice announcing that Besithia’s essence had been transferred over to Immortalis, which was the very weapon Aranea had come to destroy.  It also announced that the building would self-destruct. 

“Looks like it’s time for us to go, shortcake,” Aranea commented, turning to face Prompto.  He had found himself warmer clothes to wear thankfully, and his normally cheerful façade had become fully dull.  There was no smile in his eyes like she was used to.  He did respond, however, nodding and adjusting the beanie on his head before picking up his gun again.

Aranea sped off past him, and Prompto immediately sprinted behind her to catch up.  They had to fight through hordes of daemons as they went, coming down to the main doors and warehouse of the facility.  Her snowmobile was parked at the entrance.  “You go on ahead,” Aranea told Prompto.  “I’ll hold them off so you can get away.”

“What about you?” Prompto asked, concern in his eyes.  He hesitated next to her, not wanting to leave her behind.

Aranea shot him a grin.  “I’ll be alright.  I’ll catch up later.”

Prompto nodded before dashing off, sprinting between the daemons and dodging when they tried to attack him, before speeding off on the snowmobile.  Aranea breathed a sigh of relief once he was finally safely away from the building, before letting out a wicked grin and laying waste to the remaining daemons around her.  She then ran out just as the facility began to explode.  She had needed an outlet for her building anger – killing daemons tended to do just fine.

She followed the tracks of Prompto’s snowmobile, looking concerned when she noticed at one point he had obviously crashed and had taken a tumble off.  He appeared to have righted himself again, though, and she eventually followed the tracks to the opening of a cave.  She let out a sigh of relief before heading inside.  What she saw caused her temper to finally snap.  Prompto, who up until now had always worn a leather bracelet around his wrist, was staring at it with a blank expression on his face while holding a burning branch from the fire in his other hand.  She realized that he had a strange tattoo like a barcode on his wrist, and she thought back to a few things she had seen early on in the Magitek program.  She had a feeling she knew why Prompto always wore that bracelet. 

“What do you think you’re doing?” she asked icily, and Prompto immediately dropped the stick.  He stared up at her in surprise, speechless for a change.  Aranea plopped down next to him.  “You know, I ran into your buddies in Tenebrae,” she told him.  “You’ve got them worried sick.”

Prompto didn’t look like he knew how to take the news and looked away.  Aranea remembered Gladiolus’s explanation about what had happened, and she realized that Prompto was probably upset or thought he had done something to cause Noctis to act like that.  Still, she pressed on.  “Aren’t you going to go see them?” she asked.

Prompto stared blankly at the fire.  “I…I can’t,” he said, his voice shaky.  “I’m…not like them.”  Aranea watched him silently, her normally hard gaze soft as he spoke.  She understood how rough his time here must have been.  “I was born here in Niflheim,” Prompto added.  “All this time and I’ve never told them.”  Prompto looked about ready to fall apart, but Aranea held her tongue.

“And that’s not even the worst part,” he added, sounding miserable.  “I wasn’t born into a happy family.  I was made – created in some laboratory.  The entire reason I exist is to make Noct and all of them miserable.”  Prompto sounded disgusted with himself and had tears in his eyes.  “How can I possible see them?  They’d never accept the real me.”

Aranea felt for the boy.  She really did.  But his self-loathing also pissed her off.  “You spent all that time driving around together and you still don’t know what kind of guys they really are,” she replied, a slight bite to her tone.  Prompto looked up, eyes shining with tears, blinking in surprise at her.  “In case you forgot, your princely pal and I weren’t always on such friendly terms,” she added.  “But you know what?  He put all of that aside and asked me to make sure you were safe.”  Her voice was bitter as she spoke, for she had seen their friendship first hand.  It killed her to see them acting this way when their bonds had been so solid.

“He did?” Prompto asked softly, not looking like he believed it.

“Do you think he would do that for someone who makes him miserable?” Aranea asked pointedly.

Prompto was silent for a few moments, before quietly asking how they were doing.  Aranea explained that they were alright but had a rough time with him gone.  She added that they were still focused on going to Gralea.  Prompto gave a noncommittal reply to that, which tested her patience.

“You know, they’d have a better shot with you around,” she said, but Prompto didn’t reply.

After a few moments of silence, Prompto asked if they had said anything about him.  Aranea looked at him carefully before replying that they hadn’t really.  Prompto’s expression seemed to fall even more.  “His highness was so worried about you he could barely speak – but don’t worry, I whipped him into shape,” she replied dryly.

“So…he doesn’t hate me after all,” Prompto said, almost to himself.

Aranea was done with Prompto’s moping.  She stood up and brushed herself off.  “Look, I can tell you want to get back together with them.  So why not let them know?” she asked, clearly a bit frustrated.  When he didn’t reply, she turned and started walking back to the opening of the cave, hesitating when he finally spoke.

“You think they’d let me back after all of this?” he asked.  “And, even if they did let me back.  I’d probably cause them nothing but trouble.  I don’t know how I could live with myself…”

There was a time that Aranea may have agreed with Prompto, but now that she understood him and his dynamic within his group of friends, she knew that wasn’t true.  She let out an annoyed sigh before turning to face him.  “Because you’re doing such a great job of living with yourself now,” she said, knocking him down and kneeling over him.  “What do you want then?  You worry so much about what other people want from you that you don’t even know what you want anymore,” she spit out at him.  Prompto stared up at her in surprise, looking slightly terrified.  “Your life isn’t yours to live!”

Aranea grabbed his face.  “Forget about what everyone else thinks for a second and figure out what it is you’re really after here,” she said, staring into his eyes so he could clearly understand how annoyed she was with his actions.  She then let go and lightly pushed him down, before standing back up and turning away.  “I’m going after that new model in the morning,” she said before turning to face him again.  “You’re on your own now kid.”  She watched Prompto, who was sprawled out on the floor staring at the cave’s ceiling, and she had a slightly sad expression on her face.  When he didn’t respond, she stalked off angrily. 

Luckily there was a small abandoned shack not far from the cave that she was able to hole up in for the night.  It wasn’t warm, but it at least protected her from the wind chill and from the daemons and wild animals outside.  As her anger cooled, she thought about the young man she had left in the cave, hoping that he’d come around.  She knew how much his friends missed him, and it killed her to see Prompto hesitating to return to them when it was clear he missed them too.  He had looked like a hopeful puppy when he asked if they had asked about him.

The next morning, she woke up early and headed back toward the cave to retrieve her snowmobile.  She was pleasantly surprised to be faced with Prompto, who looked a bit shy after their discussion last night but had his clear, friendly eyes back.  “Ready to take out that weapon?” he asked hopefully, and Aranea grinned at him.  After they worked together to infiltrate the facility holding Immortalis and took it out, they parted ways once again so Prompto could head to Gralea and she could return to her crew.

Not long afterward, Noctis disappeared into the Crystal and Eos was plunged into darkness for 10 years. During this time, Aranea and her crew worked with the remaining Crownsguard, Kingsglaive, Hunters, and other volunteers to take on hunts taking out daemons and protecting the pylons that provided power to the last remaining inhabited areas in Eos.  She occasionally would bump into one of Noctis’s friends, who had all drifted apart with him gone with their skills needed for different tasks. 

Ignis mainly stayed in Lestallum helping Monica run the city, while Gladiolus travelled around taking on dangerous hunts.  Prompto would occasionally do the same, but often hung around Hammerhead or helped to keep the pylons running since he had enough technical skill to be useful there.  Aranea had heard that shortly before Noctis disappeared, they had all reunited which was a slight blessing, but she could see how much Noctis’s absence hurt those that remained.  Life during this time was hard.  Aranea had to watch people struggle, areas she used to roam become completely overrun by daemons, and the world slowly become what she always imagined Ifrit’s domain must be like.  Only freezing like Shiva without light.

Still, they managed to survive.  She was able to take on some of the tougher hunts, allowing them to struggle on for another day, and she and her crew helped share Niflheim technology and armor to ensure everyone had the best tech available to survive.  She would occasionally check on Prompto, who she almost saw as a younger brother now, since he seemed to be the one drifting with the least amount of support.  Ignis had his duties in Lestallum and Gladiolus still had his little sister Iris.  Although Prompto would occasionally visit with Cindy, they hadn’t been that close prior to the endless night, and it just wasn’t the same.  He seemed to appreciate Aranea’s little visits or when she would randomly show up and join one of his hunts.  She would see his hollow attempt to appear happy turn into a genuine one, and she would feel better about him if only for a little while.

Aranea would never forget the moment light returned to Eos.  She hadn’t been aware that Noctis had returned and reunited with his friends, for she had been out on the field trying to protect some pylons from a daemon hoard.  She had just been about to dispatch one of the bomb type daemons when suddenly, light had appeared on the horizon and they had all began to burn away before bursting into smoke and disappearing.  She had stared in silent surprise as the sun rose, for she had forgotten what it had looked like after the last time it had set almost 10 years ago.  She received a call from Biggs immediately, asking if she was seeing this, and she had barely been able to say, “Yes,” before growing silent as she took in the view.

When she headed to Hammerhead, which had become a main outpost for hunters, she was surprised to hear that Noctis had returned a few days ago and that he and his friends had left the night before for Insomnia to face Ardyn.  Talcott explained with tears in his eyes that Noctis had said his goodbyes before he left, for he wasn’t supposed to return and had to sacrifice his life to finally take Ardyn down and rid the world of Starscourge.  Aranea remembered seeing injuries magically heal on Ardyn once or twice, and while she hated the idea of the king who had gained her respect sacrificing himself, she understood why it may be necessary.  She hated to imagine how it affected his friends though.

To everyone’s surprise, several hours later as the sun was high in the sky for the first time in ages, they spotted four figures trudging up the road toward them.  Gladiolus and Prompto were both holding up a very weak looking Noctis between them while Ignis carefully kept pace.  He had grown more assured in walking over the years and could keep up with no issues now.  “Holy Shiva,” Aranea breathed, for Noctis had survived.

She immediately rushed out to help, followed closely by Iris, Talcott, and Cindy.  Iris had arrived that morning from Lestallum so she could be there to see her brother when he returned.  Talcott and Iris took over helping Noctis, while Aranea had Prompto sling an arm around her shoulder once she noticed he appeared to be limping.  Cindy, meanwhile, checked on Ignis and Gladiolus who were also banged up but appeared in slightly better condition. 

Aranea stayed in Hammerhead for a little while as Noctis recovered, making sure Prompto had some support and was settled in with his new life.  Once they were ready to return to Insomnia to start rebuilding and so Noctis could figure out what he would be doing with Lucis’s government now, she made her own decision.  She was going to return to Niflheim and attempt to do the same.

Because Niflheim had some of the worst impacts from the starscourge and daemonification due to their research, there weren’t as many citizens left as there were for some of the other countries.  However, there were still a fair amount that were willing to return and attempt to rebuild.  It didn’t take long for them to name Aranea as their representative, for along with rebuilding efforts, Noctis had announced his intention to unite all the regions of Eos in peace.  It was something he had promised to Prompto when they had reunited in Gralea, after Prompto had been recaptured by Ardyn and held locked up for a panicked Noctis to find.  He was making good at that promise, and after 10 years of struggling together, the rest of Eos was more than willing to agree to those terms.  It would take a long time for the world to be truly livable again, but Aranea figured for the first time they were off to a great start.


End file.
